Monster
by KnoKnameKnown
Summary: What became of X23 between escaping Hydra and joining the X-Men? A oneshot studying her first year of freedom. M rating for safety's sake, violence and swearing used but not gratuitous.


**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the minor characters, but if you recognise anyone, they're not mine. All rights, ownership etc belong to the original owners and I make no profit from this.**

**Monster**

To most people, she was just a dark urban legend, a myth drawn from nightmares. To the civilian populace, her existence was a rumour, to the newspapers she was a story that would pass when the next one came along. To the criminals and underbelly of the city, the crooks and the thugs and the drug-dealers, she was real. Few of them even saw her, and even fewer survived to tell the tale, but no-one who had ever seen her work could ever doubt she was a terrible, horrifying fact. None of them were innocent men, but this was on a different level: bodies mutilated and eviscerated, eyes gouged out and limbs sliced off. There was a sense of humour at work though, albeit one of the darkest shades of black. The drug-dealers were found with their mouths stuffed full of their produce or stabbed to death with needles; rapists were castrated and thugs found death via their own weapons of choice. There was one question though, one everyone asked themselves:

"Who is she?" It was Zack Denny who asked the question this time. He was with three friends, all of them one-time criminals and street toughs who had reformed their ways as soon as the mysterious killer had struck for the second time, proving she was not just a deadly assassin on behalf of one of the crime lords. "I mean, this girl just comes out of nowhere and suddenly bodies start appearing all over the place..."

"Well, parts of bodies," Joe quipped darkly. He was the intellectual of the quartet, and the others often wondered how someone as intelligent as he was had ever ended up in the same situation as them.

"How do we know it is a girl anyway?" DeCarlo asked. "I mean, look at all those bodies- that's some seriously fucked-up shit, and some of those guys were mean. You'd have to be pretty damn tough to take those guys on."

"Oh right, so a girl could never be strong or tough, is that what you're saying?" Jenny was the only girl in the group and had taken the jibe as an insult against her entire gender. "Still, maybe only a guy would be stupid enough to do this kind of thing."

"What do you mean stupid?" Zack asked.

"I mean, it's fuckin' stupid," Jenny said. "It ain't going to be long before Tombstone or one of the others gets pissed off enough to start a proper hunt against this guy, and when he gets caught he's going to die real slow."

"No man, it's a girl," Zack protested. "Ennis saw her once, he said she was short but real quick, she had dark hair and these big-ass claws on her hands."

"Claws on her hands?" Joe repeated, but he did not sound mocking or derisive, instead he sounded like he was contemplating something. "Maybe she's a mutant- it would explain why she never got caught or anything like that. Probably how she's managed to kill all those guys, too- I mean, some of those mutants are meant to be extremely powerful."

"Listen to you," Jenny sneered. "Some mutant girl with claws and a mad-on against all us guys... do you know how ridiculous that sounds?"

"It's true, I swear," Zack insisted. "Ennis saw what she did to Razor- he reckons he's never seen someone so fucked up as that, and he's been around, he knows what he's talking about."

"Sounds to me like Ennis is full of shit," Jenny said. "To hell with you guys, I'm going to try and find some intelligent conversation."

She turned and walked off, muttering to herself under her breath. She did not doubt that there was a killer out there hunting criminals and lowlifes, but she had less reason to believe the reports of mutilation and disfiguration; she suspected it was merely exaggeration or rumour out of control. As for the latest theory that the killer was a mutant girl with claws, well Joe was intelligent enough most of the time but that did sound unlikely- why would a mutant worry about them? They had enough problems of their own to deal with. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she did not notice her feet had taken her down the wrong alley, and it was only when the voice hailed her that she realised her predicament.

"Hey, you- what're you doing down here?" The rough voice called. She looked up to see three thugs loitering around, all of them tough and muscular-looking. She also noticed that they had the tattoo that marked all members of the Layamon gang, a small outfit hit hard by the killer recently.

"You're one of Vanzetti's bitches aren't you?" the one who had called her asked. Vanzetti was one of the bitterest rivals with Layamon and their feud was so bitter that even the threat of a psychopathic serial killer could not force them to join forces.

"No, I'm out of all that stuff," Jenny protested, truthfully as it happened. She and the others had been lowlifes rather than real criminals, and had never associated with any one gang in particular.

"Out of there, into here," observed the leader of the trio. "Guess that makes you fair game." His eyes looked her up and down. She was not very pretty, and whatever good looks she had were hidden behind her baggy clothes and hard expression, though the latter wavered as she realised that physical attractiveness was not really a factor in the trio's plans. She turned to hurry away but a hand grabbed her arm and swung her against a wall. It was the leader of the three, who had moved with uncanny speed to cover the distance between them and grab her. He waved a switchblade underneath her nose.

"Now don't you go screamin' or shouting for help now," he warned her. "It ain't your face we're interested in so don't think I won't mess you up real good."

"No... Please..." Jenny regretted every lie she had told, every theft she had made, every crime she had committed as she realised the real difference between her and these three: what to her was a pose was a real belief to them. They would not hesitate to kill her if they decided to. A rough hand grabbed a handful of her shirt and she was dragged onto her toes until she was eye-to-eye with the thug.

"Why shouldn't I?" he sneered. "That psycho killer bitch ain't going to concern herself with the likes of you. You're all mine... and theirs." He jabbed a thumb at his cronies, one of whom made a weird, bubbling, choking noise. The thug holding Jenny dropped her to the floor and turned to see what had happened. Jenny fell sideways and could see past his legs. The thug who had made the noise gagged and fell to the floor in a heap of slack limbs. Revealed to have been behind him was a short, dark figure that raised slender arms to reveal long claws on each hand.

"... The fuck?" The chief thug asked in shock. The second thug had crept up behind the shadowy figure but it spun around and placed a dainty foot in the thug's stomach. Despite the figure's apparent frailty, the thug was propelled backwards against a wall. The figure stepped forward from the shadows like a nightmare stepping from slumber into reality. It was a short, slender girl with long dark hair and a domino mask of some kind hiding her face above her mouth. This must be the mysterious killer, and the thug obviously realised it too as he swore and went pale. He held out his knife and tried to back away but the girl kept advancing in implacable silence. The thug she had kicked had recovered enough to try and sneak up behind her, apparently without her noticing. Jenny tried to call a warning but found herself breathless in shock and fear. The man with the knife nodded and the pair leapt forward simultaneously, clearly thinking she could not fight in two directions at once. As it turned out, she didn't even try; instead she ducked gracefully and stepped a pace to the left. Both the thugs missed and before they could recover, the girl went on the offensive. There was a muted click just as she kicked the second man a second time, but this time blood spurted from a rent along his thigh and he fell to his knees. The man with the knife lunged, trying to take her unawares, but she simply stepped backwards and sliced with one hand at the hand holding the knife. The man yelled in pain as his fingers were all carved off and the knife tumbled to the floor. The girl reversed the blow and this time her claws found the man's throat, cutting it so neatly and quickly he didn't even have time to scream. The man with the crippled leg was trying to scuttle backwards but the girl turned and stabbed once, decisively. The mysterious killer turned and even through her mask, Jenny could feel cold eyes staring at her. Then the girl leapt upwards, grabbed a fire escape and swung herself out of sight. Jenny heard running footsteps and realised the whole encounter could not have taken more than a few moments.

"Jenny, are you okay?" It was Zack's voice. "We thought we heard-" His voice faded as his eyes took in the carnage. "Holy crap!"

X23 sat on the rooftops and pulled off her mask. Up here she could see the city all around her, and smell and hear it too thanks to her senses. She had lived up here ever since leaving the forests for city life, and up on the rooftops she was alone save for the pigeons, which were bad company but surprisingly good eating. She sat for a while, deep in introspection, an experience she found bizarre and a little daunting. In her days as HYDRA's pet weapon, she had only had the mission. You did the mission, and then you went back and trained for the next one. Even after her escape she had obsessed on revenge to the exclusivity of all else. Her entire life revolved around locating HYDRA and destroying them. Now she had none of that. For the very first time in her life, it was she who decided how to live it. No missions, no targets and no objectives except those she set herself... and she didn't have a clue how to go about it.

She had come to the city to try and find out who she was. She had been a living weapon for her whole life, now she was a person not a thing... and she wanted to know who that person was. She had originally intended to return to the Xavier Institute, but had decided against it. If she went there, she would always on some level be designated 'the clone of Logan' and she wanted to discover herself as a person in her own right. Besides, the last time she had turned up she had taken down every single member of the team and despite what the kindly Xavier had said she doubted the students would forgive and forget in a hurry.

She had not even been in the city a week before she had been attacked by thugs who mistook her for an easy mark. She had of course defended herself, but she had been too deeply indoctrinated in HYDRA'S combat methodology and had ended up killing both men. She had been disappointed and even a little scared when the deaths had caused only the same hollow dull sensation she had always felt in these situations. She had hoped to leave death behind, but it would not let her go and shadowed her every footstep. It was not long after that that a psychopath had started stalking the streets, executing criminals with indiscriminate brutality. She had been one step behind the murderer every step of the way, and had been seen at several of the scenes. Now she found herself the main suspect in the attacks and she was determined to find the real murderer. Even if it would not clear her name, it would at least stop the killings.

"You look preoccupied," a voice said behind her. She leapt up and in the same motion whirled to face the newcomer with her claws drawn in a defensive posture. No-one should be able to bypass her senses- unless of course she had allowed herself to become careless and lax. She growled, whether at herself or the newcomer even she did not know- but she suspected it was both.

"Whoa! Chill out little lady!" the man said. "I don't mean you any harm. Well, not yet anyway." He was only a little taller than she herself, but much more muscular and broader across the shoulders, an impression only exaggerated by the fact he was naked above the waist. His eyes were almond-shaped and green, and she realised it was not just the irises- his whole eyeballs were the same shade of grassy green. His cropped blonde hair emphasised the pointed leaf shape of his ears, and when he smiled at her she noticed all his teeth were sharp and pointed.

"Who are you?" She growled.

"Name's Gibney," the man said. "Kyle Gibney, but on the job they call me Wild-Child."

"What are you doing here?" She demanded.

"Oh, I've come here to capture you," he explained reasonably. "Dead or alive. You've been annoyingly hard to track down- I was hoping the set-up job would draw you out."

"You're the killer!" she realised suddenly. Gibney just shrugged.

"I guess those three would disagree," he said, gesturing towards the three corpses in the alleyway. "But yeah, the rest of them are down to little old me." He didn't seem particularly bothered that in two weeks he had racked up a body count similar to a small war. "But you know, omelettes and eggs right?"

"And now you're here to kill me," X23 said flatly. She knew right away that she would have absolutely no regrets about killing him in turn. He was clearly a deranged sociopath, and seemed willing to kill any- and everybody who got in his way.

"Or capture you," Gibney corrected her. "There're a whole lot of people who want to know just how you were created." He looked at her curiously. "I don't suppose there's any point asking you to come voluntarily?"

"None," she affirmed. Gibney's tone and stance had not changed but her superhuman senses and extensive military training were both telling her he was readying himself to fight. He grinned mercilessly, displaying all his pointed teeth.

"Good!" He jumped at her and she threw herself out of the way. She rolled to her feet just in time for a meaty fist to smash into her face and throw her off her feet. Gibney's speed was easily a match for X23's and he was readying his next attack even as she tried to recover. He pounced on her but she extended the claws in her feet and kicked out at him in midair. His momentum worked against him and he was thrown against a ventilation shaft with a slash across his torso bleeding heavily. This time it was X23 who went on the offensive, jabbing her claws at his throat, but he managed to duck and the adamantium blades instead buried themselves in the metal of the shaft. He made use of her momentary distraction to grab her by the throat and lift her into the air. She kicked out with her toe blades and scored several deep cuts on his chest but his flesh simply stitched itself back together within moments. She tried again and this time the blade sliced across his face, severing his nose and gouging across one eye. He yelled in agony and dropped her, but she landed on her feet and pummelled him on the chest, every blow driving the blades on her arms right through his flesh and organs. For a moment she dared to believe she had managed to overload his healing factor and do him more damage than he could recover from, but then he launched a punch of his own. It landed right in her stomach and sent her rocketing through the air, so far and fast that she went beyond the rooftop and started to plummet down towards the alley. She managed to dig both claws into the wall and halt her downward momentum, and spent a few moments clinging to the wall as her flattened, ruptured innards repaired themselves. Gibney's face appeared over the rooftop and he glared down at her, hanging there just beyond his reach. He turned to try and find something to dislodge her with and she made her move. She used the blades on her feet to run right up the wall and as she reached the rooftop propelled herself in a soaring somersault that took her clean over Gibney's head. He was so taken aback by the manoeuvre that he was unable to defend himself against her next attack as she jabbed out quickly in midair, two blades hacking into each of his shoulders. She landed and spun to face him, and as the tendons of his arms and back tried to knit themselves back together he was momentarily helpless. She lashed out with all four limbs, with such eye-blurring speed there appeared to be a shimmering silver screen in the air before her. Gibney's healing was only just able to keep him standing, and he had no chance of stopping her attacks or retaliating. She drove him back relentlessly until his back was to the precipice, but before she could force him backwards he slipped and fell on his back. She growled and rammed the claws of one hand right through his thorax and into the concrete, pinning him in place.

"You're good," he gargled, his throat full of blood. "You're very good. Guess this is the bit where you finish me off, isn't it? Good little Weapon X23, still killing everyone in her way."

His words struck a deep chord somewhere deep inside her. On the one hand, she knew that he had a point, that if she did kill him she would prove she was still the same vicious killer she had always been, a monster like him. Of course, she also knew that the words were intended to get that reaction from her and convince her to prove him wrong by letting him live. The two conflicting impulses tore at her mind until she was not even aware of Gibney's insane giggles. She knew that somehow, her next actions would define who she really was.

"You're going to kill me," Gibney predicted gleefully. "And throughout your whole life, in your nightmares and in your shame you're going to remember the man you killed who you could have let live." He tried a laugh but it made blood spurt out of his nose and mouth, muffling his words. "You'll tell yourself it was justice, you'll tell yourself it was to stop more people dying but what you'll remember is how it felt when you killed me... because it felt good. It always does, doesn't it? Somewhere deep down inside when you smell the blood and see the bodies, you like it, you enjoy it, you-"

He never got to finish the sentence. X23 screamed in rage and agony as she sliced off his head in one neat blow. It bounced away and off the edge of the roof, clattering off the fire escape until it hit the alley with a wet thud. She stared down at the decapitated body, trying to come to terms with the fight and the psychopath's last words, but she couldn't concentrate, because as she stared at the headless, bleeding corpse, she felt a strange satisfaction. She hated him and she hated herself for her visceral reaction, but even as she walked away to face whatever life fate had in store for her she knew Gibney had been right. She had enjoyed killing him.

She may have been a monster, HYDRA's greatest and most dangerous creation... but she would never let that beat her. X23 had finally found herself, and her purpose in life, because she knew that when monsters threatened the innocent and the helpless, no-one could fight them except another of their kind. You fought fire with fire... and monsters with monsters.

**Reviews much appreciated!**


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